Clinical Program Assessment
Rate ten areas of your program on two things: how much each one matters, and how well it works today. The report ranks the gaps and names the three to start with.
Built for program directors, clinical directors, supervisors, therapists and counselors. Everything stays at the program level, and the questions are about the program only.
The hard part
Most program directors can feel when something is off. Clients drop out in the first weeks. Between-session assignments go undone. Treatment plans look alike. New counselors learn by trial and error. The harder part is knowing which of those is the problem and which is a symptom of something upstream. These assessments answer three questions.
And which of the things making noise this week are only noise, and can wait for now.
Strength you have stopped noticing is strength you are one staffing change from losing.
One thing, named, with the reason it comes first, so the team knows where to start.
Available now
Ten program areas each, three statements per area, plus a priority and a readiness rating. Two are about the client’s experience of care, from engagement through treatment planning. One is about the clinical workforce that delivers it. Pick the one that matches the question keeping you up.
Whether clients stay engaged in sessions and keep practicing between them, from early engagement and motivation through assignments, completion, feedback, digital access and measuring engagement.
Start This One
Whether treatment plans are individualized, resources match the presenting concern and documentation stays manageable, from assessment and goals through interventions and plan reviews.
Start This One
Whether counselors are onboarded, supervised and trained to deliver consistent, evidence-based care, from onboarding and supervision through MI and CBT, interns, in-service training and turnover.
Start This OneTwo more, on aftercare and on outcomes and program data, are in development.
How it works
All ten program areas are ranked by how far each one is falling short of the weight you put on it. The report names the three worth a closer look, and says which of those your team is ready to start on.
Three statements per program area, one to five, answered for your program as it runs today.
Two more clicks per area: how much fixing it would move the needle, and how ready the team is.
Each program area lands on the grid the moment you finish it, so the picture forms as you go.
Every area ranked by how far it falls short of the weight you gave it. Readiness picks the first.
Your answers live in the page address, on your own device. Close the tab and reopen it, and you pick up where you left off. Send the results link to whoever needs it, or print the report.
That is the whole mechanism, and you can check it: open one, turn your Wi-Fi off, and finish it anyway.
What you walk away with
The ones that matter, past the day-to-day fires, down to what is holding the program back.
In black and white, which one or two areas deserve this quarter, and which ones can wait.
Where the program stands today, area by area, in language you can bring to a board or funder.
Where to start
Check two or three of these. Say what is on your mind and what has come up lately, and this points you to where to start. Everything stays on your screen.
What is on your mind?
What has come up lately?
Two or three is plenty. Any answer is fine, and everything stays on your screen.
Straight answers
Because Journey to Recovery makes the lessons, resource packs and planning tools that close the gaps these assessments find. Every program area maps to a specific resource. If your report says the problem is between-session follow-through, that is a specific conversation.
If you leave it there, the report is still yours. The assessment is free. The report costs an email address.
You and Dr. Hal Baumchen at Journey to Recovery. The questions are about the program only. Everything stays at the program level, with no account, no password and no tracking while you answer.
At the end you give an email. Your results and that address come to us, and a copy of the report link goes to you. If you ask for help, we may pass your results to the advisor we introduce you to. That is all that is collected.
If someone sent you a personalized invite link, their name and email are in that link so the results can go back to them. You still decide whether to send it.
You give an email, then the report opens on screen and a copy of the link lands in your inbox. Print it, keep the link, or send it to whoever else needs to see it.
If you want help with what the report found, say so. A finished report is a good place to start that conversation.
It is your own read on your own program, organized. It is a self-assessment, with no certification, no benchmark against other programs, and no review of any counselor. It shows where the stakes are high and the current approach is falling behind. What you do about it is yours to decide.
The Clinical Program Assessment series was written by Dr. Hal Baumchen, PsyD, LP, LADC, a licensed psychologist and alcohol and drug counselor with more than 30 years of clinical experience. It is published by Journey to Recovery. The program areas and the wording are written for the people who run counseling and treatment programs.
Questions, or anything that reads wrong to you: info@journeytorecovery.com.
Fifty-four ratings in all. Three statements for each of ten program areas, a priority and a readiness rating for each, and a two-statement bonus area at the end. About ten minutes with the number keys. The page shows the time left as you go, and Enter moves you on.
You know your program better than any checklist could. This helps you see all of it at once, in an order you can act on.
